My thinking has only slightly changed since it was first posted; the fundamentals remain. Some of you know that I voted for him and will think "does she still think he's a plant?" Answer: I haven't yet ruled it out. Too soon.

Having been the target of such epithets from the same source, I'd like to describe how that kind of verbal attack looks from this target’s point of view.

I’ve talked about shame mongers before and, of course, the Internet is overrun by them. The trick to resisting them is to realize that shame is the only weapon they’re wielding. They have nothing else. And if one is immune to their form of shaming--name-calling--reading it is like watching a toddler throw a fit, only funnier.

So, while Harvey tries to use his celebrity for something selfless and useful and while the Talladega College marching band gets the world stage to show off the results of its hard work and school spirit, think of their detractors as the latter sit behind their cell phones and sling names like “coon” and “Uncle Tom”[i] in between posting their twerking and ghetto fight videos.

Think of their impotence.

Certainly Harvey was openly pro-Clinton and I wouldn't doubt that Dr. Hawkins and the most of band members old enough to vote were as well. But what they have already done and will do in the face of not getting what they wanted shows the type of people they are. They know the source of their power and that power does not come from sitting on the couch and slinging insults at others or even from the president of the United States.

As the woman said, ain't nobody got time for that.

And, as for Trump, a Facebook friend of mine pointed out that if he hadn't met with any Americans who are black, he'd be called a racist.

It never pays to consider the shame mob. They're only good for amusement--as a cat might be amused by a mouse.

A new dossier making salacious claims against President-elect Donald Trump was published online by BuzzFeed on Tuesday — even though the site’s editor admits he has “serious reason to doubt the allegations” in it.

The documents — compiled before the election by a former British intelligence agent at the behest of a group of anti-Trump Republicans — purport to detail sordid links between Trump and Russian agents.

In an introduction to its dossier report, BuzzFeed admits the claims are “unverified” — but its editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, explained in an e-mail to his reporters that he decided to publish them anyway because “this dossier reflects how we see the job of reporters in 2017.”

Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.

The allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The allegations came, in part, from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative, whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible. The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.

Trump has vehemently denied all of this. So have the Russians.

To be clear, I'm still on the fence about Donald Trump, but, for Heaven's sake, the man hasn't even taken office yet. And while I don't completely trust him, I trust the professional media and the intelligence edifice even less. Both have shown shown that they contain elements which are capable of colluding against any target, or protecting one. Even a president? Especially a president.